a+u 2022:04 Feature: BRUTHER
Content
a+u’s April issue features Bruther, a Paris-based architectural studio established by Stéphanie Bru and Alexandre Theriot in 2007. Describing architecture as a “combat sport,” the duo rose to international prominence with the completion in 2014 of Cultural and Sports Center in the Saint Blaise neighborhood of Paris. Rooted in the cultural geography of France, the project displays a nuanced mediation of urbanity, structure, and program that is informed by cosmopolitan currents and the architects’ belief in the malleability of buildings. Competitions, investigations, and experiments are all part of a work process they see as “a game of strategy and a balancing act” – balancing abstraction with function, diversity with uniformity, opacity with transparency. Twenty-nine projects, ranging from collective housing and cultural and educational institutions to pavilions and exhibitions, are presented here to convey the full extent of Bruther’s work. While many of the projects are unbuilt or small-scale, temporary studies or installations, Bruther’s use of highly realistic and detailed visualizations and models in their design process have ironically allowed for an intense scrutiny of equipment and skin, as they “turn the hidden into a compositional element” in the ever-shifting pursuit of human comfort. (a+u)
Essay:
Failure
Stéphanie Bru and Alexandre Theriot
New Generation Research Center
Student Residence and Reversible Car Park
Residence for Researchers
Cultural and Sports Center
60 Social Housing Units
25 Social Housing Units
Renovation of a High-Rise Building
Sports and Cultural Facilities, Reversible Public Car Park, and Shops
Art Dépot
Renovation of Galeries Lafayette
Media House
New Life Sciences Building
Pavilion
Mixed-Use Tower
New Museum of the 20th Century
Residential Tower 106
University Forum of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
School of Engineering ZAHW
University of Applied Sciences Graubünden
Interview:
A Few Thoughts by Bruther
Felipe De Ferrari
Renovation of Pavillon de l’Arsenal
Concert Hall
Central Library
School of Engineering ISALAB
Learning Center
Essays:
Hypercomfort
Facing the Future
Stéphanie Bru and Alexandre Theriot
Cloud Catcher
Platform for Shipbuilding
Lighthouse
Motor Action Form
Glass Flower